A teary Ralph Hasenhuttl was being consoled by the side-lines at the St Mary’s on Tuesday, as Southampton humbled a toothless Liverpool in a 1-0 win. The victory ended the home side’s end four-game winless run. Liverpool still sit at the top of the Premier League table but it was their second defeat of the season which put an end to the champions’ 12-game unbeaten run. They have now played 17 games and have secured 33 points, with Manchester United at their tail on the same points.
Former Liverpool forward Danny Ings opened the scoresheet in the 2nd minute of the game with a wonderful lobbed finish after being picked out behind by a James Ward-Prowse free-kick. Southampton held on to their lead, credits to a resilient defensive display, and a first Premier League clean sheet from goalkeeper Fraser Forster in over three years.
A shellshocked Reds defence struggled to get to grips with the pace of Southampton’s attacking line. The Saints in the contrary were exceptional as they restricted Liverpool to just a single attempt on target.
Before the halftime whistle, Sadio Mane led the Liverpool attack but two chances to bring parity to the score went begging. It was in the 75th minute on the clock when Liverpool registered their first attempt on target, but it was comfortably clawed away by Forster.
Just @IngsDanny welcoming in the new year the only way he knows how ? pic.twitter.com/7HKPeHSnSs
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) January 5, 2021
Jurgen Klopp told Sky Sports, “The slow start cost us, that made life massively difficult tonight. All these things can happen, we are human beings. As great as the set-piece was [for Ings’ goal] we knew they could do it and the player there who was there missed the ball, and then the next one was a great finish. We could have defended it.”
Hasenhuttl expressed, “I’ve never taken points against Jurgen so far, I think I started believing we could do it in the 92nd minute, not earlier. You never know, they are so strong in front, and you always think something can happen.”
